This wicked little Monday crossword gives a nod to Halloween with VAMPIRE(38A. Creature who might disagree with the saying at the ends of 17-, 22-, 48- and 56-Across) resulting in “ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY”, within ALL AT ONCE(17A. Simultaneously),FLEA-BITTEN (22A. Like many itchy mutts),THINK TWICE (48A. Be deliberative) and CAMERA SHY (56A. Not wanting to be shot?).

The fact of the matter is that this clunky Friday crossword has some extremely alienating clues, some of them so far-fetched that it’s ludicrous. I don’t give a tinker's damn what a grid looks like, just make some sense with the blinkin’ clues for the love of heaven! That’s all that I have to say (well, not really, I‘m being nice! and I don’t work for The New York Times, nor am I a test solver!), just a day-to-day... day-to-day!

Across: 1. Theory related to eugenics,SOCIAL DARWINISM; 16. What good competitors may give one,A RUN FOR THE MONEY; 17. Part of Many confessions,FORGIVE ME FATHER; 18. Old Testament book before Neh., EZR; 19. Some services, TEA SETS; 20. Composer of “1/1,” “1/2,” “2/1” and 2/2”, ENO; 21. Some HDTVs,RCAS; 23. Noodle, BEAN; 24. Guidebook listings for the budget-conscious,ONE-STAR HOTELS; 32. Gossips,TALE BEARERS; 33. Winter cry in New York,GO RANGERS, this is the most ridiculous clue of all this crossword‘s clues!, “winter cry in New York!”, give me a …; 34. Riddle,BRAIN TEASER; 36. Like some cross-dressers,TRANSGENDERED; 38. Stoker who wrote “Dracula”, BRAM;39. “Hooked on Classics” company, K-TEL; 41. “That’s the spot”, AAH; 42. Pacific, perhaps,ANTI-GUN;49. Here, in Juarez,ACA; 50. Fictional maker of earthquake pills and elephant bullets,ACME CORPORATION; 53. Feature of the ideal path,LEAST RESISTANCE; 54. Some I.T. experts, SYSTEMS ANALYSTS.

Now, now there!, we're o.k.!—humor them!, The Club has a raging need—a mad quest for cruciverbal "superiority"—why indeed, who of us can hold a candle to their panting and snorting, their maddening speed, their cold and cruel critique coupled with charming and enlightening personal experiences(Example: "Thank goodness I spent a summer in Uzbekistan!") that assists in their desperate prattling about the solution of the most recent crossword puzzle of The New York Times—cool it, relax, calm down, really ... it‘s only a crossword puzzle!

HOLY [GHOST] and[GHOST]BUSTERS (51D, Trinity member; 69A, 1984 film whose soundtrack had a #1 hit with the same title)

Other — ADAPTED TO(16A. Got comfortable with),BEANIE BABY(11D. Toy collectible of the late ’90s),EATING OUT(14A. Alternative to a home meal), INFATURATES (12D. Enamors),LHASA APSO (61A. Tibetan terrier),ROGER EBERT (29D. “Life Itself: A Memoir” autobiographer, 2011), TSUNAMI (25D. Something of earth-shaking concern?),WOODY ALLEN(28D. Who wrote “It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens”),YES INDEED (67A. “Most certainly!”).

WHERE ART THOU(57A. Question that follows “O Brother” in film … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme, along withMIDNIGHT HOUR (20A. Time in the title of a 1965 Wilson Pickett hit),MATT HOUSTON (28A. TV oilman-turned-private eye),APARTMENT HOUSES(39A. Multiple-dwelling buildings) and BASSET HOUND(46A. Droopy-eared dog) constitute the interrelated group of this fine Tuesday crossword.

IN THE DUMPS(17A. Where sad trash collectors get together?),DOWN THE ROAD (28A. Where future motorists get together?),OVER THE HILL (49A. Where elderly picnickers get together?) and UP THE CREEK (63A. Where stranded canoeists get together?) constitute the interrelated group of this Monday crossword.

All the puzzles of the above-mentioned week, from Monday to Saturday, were created by one person, Patrick Berry. The solver was asked to have the solutions handy on Saturday because that puzzle concealed a meta-challenge involving the solution grids of all six. The solver was further urged to e-mail the answer to the meta-challenge to crossword@nytimes.com. Twenty-five correct solvers, chosen at random, whose entries were received by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, Oct. 23, would receive copies of “Will Shortz Picks His Favorite Puzzles: 101 of the Top Crosswords From The New York Times.

The final crossword of the six puzzles appeared on Saturday, October 22nd and contained the answer/clue at 23-Across, “Find contest’s meta-answer by reading THE FIRST LETTERS of these clues“, e.g., “THE CORNERS OF THIS WEEK’S GRIDS READ IN ORDER SPELL A FAMOUS LEADER AND HIS CROSSING WORDS”.

Further, at 42-Across, “Solvers must FILL EVERY CIRCLE in the grids to determine the grids’ proper order” (in this instance, a “circle” is the letter “O”, placed in the six puzzles as pips on dice). Each corner is read through the order of the six crosswords, upper left, upper right, lower left, lower rightproducing JULIUS CAESAR, THE DIE IS CAST.

Much like Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a story we all think we know, but really don't. Very few films have consciously attempted to follow the novel too closely (which shouldn't detract from the excellent James Whale/Boris Karloff film, or its masterpiece-sequel, "The Bride of Frankenstein). Thus, everything popular culture "knows" about "Frankenstein" does not originate from literature, but from films. This is a shame, in a way, because the novel itself is, if not the progenitor, an early vessel of so many archetypes found science fiction and horror. ~ Ian Fowler, Penguin Classics

The quotation: HIS HAIR WAS OF A LUSTROUS BLACK…; HIS TEETH OF A PEARLY WHITENESS; BUT THESE LUXURIANCES ONLY FORMED A MORE HORRID CONTRAST WITH HIS WATERY EYES… THE DUN WHITE SOCKETS…, HIS SHRIVELED COMPLEXION, AND STRAIGHT BLACK LIPS.

The author’s name and the title of the work: MARY SHELLEY, FRANKENSTEIN

The full paragraph of the quotation: How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! -- Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. ~ Chapter 5, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus